Lettering pencil



IN V EN TOR. Blbefl; Felice Patented Sept. 25, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LETTERING PENCIL Albert Felice, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application December '7, 1948, Serial No. 63,951

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to a new: and useful lettering pencil, particularly an article used in sign writing, and employed similar to an ordinary pen or pencil so that when held with the marking element obliquely forwardly relative to a base line the letters and numerals produced will have narrow and wide portions blending into one another to give the effect of shading.

One object of the invention is to provide a handle or holder of flat tubular formation with a slotin one side through which projects. a threaded post formed with a shoe slidably mounted in the handle to project a flat marking element, such as a crayon, forwardly, said shoe being held in any adjusted position by a jamb nut and said post carrying means to cooperate with the marking element to retain the latter in contact with the shoe. Various types of marking elements may be used and one of them may be a composition that can be used on glass and have water repellant qualities to prevent it being washed off, especially by rain.

Another object of the invention is to construct an exceedingly simple and inexpensive lettering pencil which is useful to the skilled sign writer as well as an unskilled person and eliminates the use of fluid writing mediums and the brushes generally employed.

'A further object of the present invention is tomake the handle either open or closed at the top, the latter form providing an article of neat appearance without some of the corners and unfinished edges present in the simplest type.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a resilient connector of unique construction for retaining the marking element in contact with the marking element projector or shoe.

With the above and other objects in view this invention consists of the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then designated by the claim.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains may understand how to make and use the same I will describe its construction in detail referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of one type of a lettering pencil constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the resilient connector used in the structure of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is also a perspective view of a modified form of lettering pencil;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of another form of resilient connector.

Fig. 5 is a front view of lettering pencil shown in Fig; 3.

Fig; Sis a side or edge view thereof.

Fig; 7 is a face view of the shoe looking at the end of the post with the connector and j amb nut thereon.

Fig. 8 is a side view thereof.

In carrying out my invention as herein embodied; reference being first had to Figs. 1 and 2, the numeral l0 represents the handle which lsof fiat tubular formation, at least the bottom portion thereof, extending'over the major part of the full length of said handle. The upper part of said handle may be hollow, as when made as a stamping, or it may be solid, as when made as a casting or molded product. In either case, an oblong. bore II is provided open at the lower end and in one, the front, face of said handle is formed a longitudinal slot [2 extending from said lower end an appreciable distance, upwardly and communieating with the bore. The upper end of the handle tapers, as at I3, from the front, back and side edges,-to a rounded terminal l4. This imparts a streamlined appearance to the article and eliminates all sharp corners and edges.

In" the bore is slidably mounted a shoe or pusher I5 shaped. to fit the cross sectional configuration of'the interior of the handle and is of sufficient length to prevent cocking while permitting free sliding movements. A threaded post It is carried by said shoe, said post being formed as an integral part of or permanently fixed on said shoe, whereby the two comprise a unitary structure. The shoe is inserted in the bore from the lower end of the handle and the post l6 slides in the slot l2 and is of sufiicient length to project beyond the front face of said handle to receive a connector I! and a jamb nut l8 screwed onto said post.

The connector I! is produced from fiat sheet metal, preferably having some resiliency, and includes an eye 19, which is positioned on the post between the base of the jamb nut and the adjacent outer face of the handle to bridge the slot l2 and function as a washer as well as means for uniting said connector to said post. An arm 20 pr jects from the eye in the same plane and a pointed finger 2| extends from the outer end of said arm, at right angles thereto, for projection through the slot into the bore.

A flat or relatively wide and thin marking element 22, such as a length of crayon, is inserted in the bore from the lower end of the handle. Said marking element, preferably, snugly fits the bore of the handle and the inner end of said marking element engages the outer end of the shoe so that outward movement of the latter will project the marking element. When the marking element is properly position the pointed finger of theconnector I7 is caused to engage said marking element and due to the resiliency of said connector it will slightly penetrate th body of the marking element or it may be manually forced thereinto. Such a structure will prevent the marking element from being accidentally displaced and cause it to be projected and retracted as the shoe is moved forwardly and rearwardly.

The modification shown in Figs. 3 to 8, inclusive, comprise the handle or holder Illa of flat tubular formation to provide a bore Ila extending the entire length so that said handle is open at both ends. This handle is split longitudinally along one of its wider sides, which is considered as the front wall, to form a slot 12a.

In the bore Ila is slidably mounted the shoe l5, identical to the one above described, having a threaded post l6 which projects from said shoe and through the slot when the shoe is assembled in the handle. On the protruding end of the post I6 is mounted a washer 22 and the eye l9a of the connector Ila which, in this form, is fashioned from resilient wire bent to provide said eye 19a, an arm 20a and the pointed finger 21a extending at right angles from the outer end of said arm. The arm 200. has an angular portion intermediate its ends which extends both laterally, Fig. 7, and inwardly, Fig. 8, to center the pointed finger relative to the slot [2a and position said finger within the handle bore. To retain the washer and connector in place and hold the shoe in any selected adjustment a jamb nut 18a is screwed onto the threaded post 16.

The marking element 22, identical to the one previously described, is inserted in an end of the handle and the shoe moved to contact the inner end of said marking element and the connector Ha regulated to cause the pointed finger to engage with and slightly penetrate the body of said marking element.

In practice, the marking element is sharpened only on the two broad sides and the edge produced can be maintained practically indefinitely by reversing the pencil occasionally as either side wears away. During use of the instrument, the marking element cannot be pushed back or inwardly by pressure thereon because the shoe is rigidly fixed in the adjusted position by the clamping action of the jamb nut. When the instrument is employed for writing signs, and the like, and shaded symbols are desired, said instrument is held in an inclined position with the upper end leading the lower end and the broad side of the marking element is placed against the surface to be written upon. By holding the lettering pencil steadily in the position above described as the same is moved during the formation of the symbols, the substantially vertical or upright portions will be wide while the substantially horizontal or transverse portions will be narrow thus producing the shaded effects. This eliminates the use of a brush and liquid marking substances and does away with the necessity of filling in symbol outlines.

Of course I do not wish to be limited to the exact details of construction herein shown and described as these may be varied within the scope of the appended claim without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and useful is:

A lettering pencil comprising a flat tubular handle having a single longitudinal slot in only one of the broad sides thereof, said handle having a flat writing element snugly fitted in the bore of said handle, a shoe slidably mounted in the bore of said handle for endwise abutting contact with the inner end of said writing element, a threaded post carried by said shoe as a unitary part thereof and projecting through said slot, a resilient connector mounted on said post outside of said handle and provided with a pointed finger projecting through said only slot into the handle bore to slightly penetrate the marking element due to the resiliency of said connector, and a jamb nut on said post to hold the connector in place and clamp the parts in any adjusted position longitudinally of the handle.

. ALBERT FELICE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 393,965 De Forest Dec. 4, 1888 1,013,575 Washburne Jan. 2, 1912 1,136,592 Ferrari Apr. 20, 1915 2,257,529 Mattos Sept. 30, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 57,410 Austria Jan. 25, 1913 

